The kids were off for spring break last week so we took a road trip to South Carolina and stayed at a Marriott condo on the beach. My sister works for Marriott and with her friends/family discount, we were able to snag a two bedroom condo for a rock bottom price.
On the way back home, we kept seeing signs advertising "Ruby Falls" along the highway. We learned that it was a cave under Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennesee. On impulse, we decided to stop there and explore the cave.
Of course, there was no time to arrange for an interpreter, but the guide supplied us with a transcript. Once we arrived at the beginning of the cave, we realized that we couldn't read the transcript. The font was too small and there wasn't enough light in the cave to read it. I was the only one in my family who read through the transcript so I had an idea of the history of the cave and the man who pioneered it.
During the first stop on the tour, we saw a movie on two TV screens. I was really disappointed to find that there were no captions. My hard-of-hearing daughter did her best to try and interpret the movie so we were able to catch some of the history of the cave.
It was a long, narrow walk, but once we arrived at Ruby Falls, the sight was amazing. From a dome-like cavern, a thundering waterfall poured from the top into a pool below. The waterfall was rigged with lights that displayed the water in different hues.
Unfortunately, the cave is not accessible for wheelchairs due to the rugged paths and narrow openings. This had me wondering if there were guides who could team up with a person with a disability and use some kind of chair for this kind of terrain? Does anyone know?
I plan to contact the staff at Ruby Falls this week and follow up on my request for captioning on the cave movie. I'm curious to see if there are solutions to make caves accessible for visitors. If you have any info to share, I'll pass it along to the staff there for future visitors.
